Mali coup
Ex-defence minister appointed Mali's transition leader
Junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita said in a televised statement that former defence minister Bah Ndaw would become transition president -- while he himself...
President Nana Akufo-Addo, who currently chairs Ecowas, said that a mediator would travel to Bamako in a week and the 15-nation bloc wanted the process finished.
Dicko, a Salafist preacher who earlier this year electrified protesters during anti-government demonstrations, told the state broadcaster late on Wednesday that Mali needed assistance and that it had nothing to gain by going behind the back of the international community.
The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) held a summit on Friday to discuss Mali’s future and whether to lift sanctions on the country following last week’s ousting of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Keita’s whereabouts could not immediately be confirmed. His residence in Bamako appeared deserted at midday with no sign of the usual security presence outside, a local resident said, asking not to be named.
The two missions assisting Mali’s army and police are part of international efforts to stabilise Mali and extend the state’s authority, but the EU is facing questions about whether it inadvertently helped train the coup plotters.
Its leadership agreed the move at an extraordinary session held via videoconference, while adding that it would maintain any cooperation that would help the civilian population and a transition to democracy.
Ecowas sent a high-level delegation to Bamako on Saturday, led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, to press its demands for the 'immediate return to constitutional order.'
Thousands gathered in the capital's Independence Square, the birthplace of a months-long protest movement, many of them draped in Mali's national flag and blasting on vuvuzela horns.
There has been no word from President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita since Tuesday, when he dissolved parliament and then resigned after being detained at gunpoint.
Rebel soldiers on Tuesday launched a mutiny in a barracks on the outskirts of Bamako, detained Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, and declared they had taken power.
The mutineers met Mahmoud Dicko, a Salafist preacher who electrified protesters during anti-Keita demonstrations in recent weeks that drew tens of thousands of people.
Demonstrators notably torched the offices of the attorney of former justice minister Kassim Tapo.
The suspension will last until constitutional order is restored, it said, demanding the release of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and other senior officials.
Keita’s detention at his residence in southwestern Bamako followed hours of uncertainty after soldiers mutinied in the morning at the Kati military base outside Bamako and rounded up a number of senior civilian officials and military officers.
Germany, France & Italy have said they want to develop particularly closer relationships with Niger & Mali.
Defense ministry spokesperson Diarran Kone said five soldiers had disappeared, one other was injured.
Sources say the two journalists were abducted after interviewing a local official in Kidal.
EWN’s Africa Correspondent Jean-Jacques Cornish reports on the day’s top African news.